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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Essential Classics

Music: Classical

Refresh your morning with a great selection of classical music

Refresh your morning with a great selection of classical music, presented by Georgia Mann.

Essential Classics: Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Samuel West

Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Samuel West

24/02/2016

BBC Radio 3 - Essential Classics, Wednesday - Rob Cowan with Samuel West

Artist of the Week: pianist Artur Rubinstein, in Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in A minor.

With Rob Cowan. Including My Favourite Etudes; Music in Time: Haydn: Symphony No 9 (Miracle); Artist of the Week: pianist Artur Rubinstein, in Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in A minor.

9am
My favourite... études. Rob showcases a selection of these works which many composers regarded not as traditional studies but demanding miniatures. He considers the innovation of Chopin, who transformed a traditionally dry exercise into an exploration of virtuoso technique, and features works ranging from Vieuxtemps's Concert Études and Rachmaninov's Études-Tableaux to Stravinsky's Four Orchestral Études and Bartók's Three Études Op. 18. 

9.30am
Take part in our daily musical challenge: identify a piece of music played backwards.

10am 
Rob's guest this week is the actor and director Samuel West. Samuel has received accolades for his work across stage and screen. He was nominated for a Bafta for his role in the acclaimed film Howards End, earned a Critics' Circle Award for his role as Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has performed to critical acclaim in West End productions including Lucy Prebble's play Enron. Currently playing Frank Edwards in the popular television series Mr Selfridge, Samuel also has experience behind the scenes directing plays and operas. He has toured with the Choir of London and provided narration for groups including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Nash Ensemble, besides making a number of appearances at the Proms. Samuel will be talking about his life on and off stage and sharing a selection of his favourite classical music every day at 10am. 

10:30am
Rob places Music in Time. He travels back to the Classical period to hear Haydn's so-called 'Miracle' symphony, which marked the beginning of a new phase in Haydn's career, when he was finally released from the comfortable but restrictive bonds of patronage and became a successful freelance composer.

11am
Rob's artist of the week is the pianist Artur Rubinstein. Few musicians in living memory were more widely loved than Artur Rubinstein, so it's not surprising that he was always in demand as a chamber player. Though a musical giant in his own right, Rubinstein would happily - and regularly - join forces with his younger peers in pursuit of performances that combine wisdom and spontaneity. Throughout the week Rob shares some of Rubinstein's best ensemble playing, in works including Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor and Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. 

Tchaikovsky
Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50
Jascha Heifetz, violin
Gregor Piatigorsky, cello
Artur Rubinstein, piano.

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